Peter Pan Is A Horror Movie Monster Now & Reddit Isn't Holding Back
After "Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey" opened the floodgates of horror movies based on classic children's stories, Jagged Edge Productions and ITN Studios have turned their attention to yet another planned installment in the Twisted Childhood Universe. "Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare" joins the previously-announced "Pinocchio: Unstrung" and "Bambi: The Reckoning," reimagining Pan (Martin Porlock) as a monstrous villain who steals souls to maintain his immortality, trapping his victims' spirits in a no doubt creepy version of Neverland.
The news of this monstrous take on Peter Pan has caused plenty of discussion on Reddit, with some users outright dismissing "Neverland Nightmare" as a cash-in motivated by "Peter Pan's" entry in the realm of public domain. "Pan entered the public domain at the beginning of 2024. Folks, be prepared for a whole bunch of Peter Pan crap coming out of the woodwork," u/joshi38 wrote. "Can this SNL parody of an idea be put to rest already? It was never clever or edgy to begin with," u/GoldNMocha added, expressing their frustration. "Children's tales are VERY horror adjacent," u/Hoonta-Of-Hoontas wrote. "But those adapting them into horror don't understand and turn them into slashers instead."
Likely because of the perceived unoriginality of the concept, some redditors predicted that "Neverland Nightmare" won't be a great success story. "Well this is gonna be s***, innit," u/Jackielegs43 opined. "People really gotta stop giving these movies attention," u/stuffedpanda21 wished. Going by these comments and more, it seems that Reddit isn't exactly impressed with the "Blood and Honey" team's dark Peter Pan.
There's plenty of darkness in the Peter Pan story
Regardless of how you feel about this particular horror movie venture, it's worth noting that Peter Pan's dark history offers plenty of precedent for adult-targeted terror. Death, darkness, and allusions to various creepy mythological elements run rampant in the source material, and even Disney's family-friendly version of "Peter Pan" has things only grown-ups notice. There's even a disturbing theory that totally changes how the classic character's story is viewed, framing Pan as the angel of death and Neverland as an afterlife realm.
When viewed in this context, it's not all that shocking that the makers of "Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey" have attached a Pan wagon to their slasher franchise train. While several redditors have criticized the way they expect "Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare" to approach the subject, there are those who recognize the horror potential in J. M. Barrie's story. "The whole thing with Peter Pan isn't that he's the good guy or the bad guy, but that he's an innocent child, in a literal sense. He has no real understanding of right or wrong, instead only doing what he sees as fun," u/JonGthewriter wrote. "And, given his demigod-like status, that's terrifying."
And after envisioning a movie project where Pan is an outright child abductor with a penchant for kicking overage Lost Boys off the team, redditor u/_meece_ succinctly summed things up: "Peter Pan is a creepy demon child anyway, might as well lean into it."